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Barbara Ehrenreich - After studying theoretical physics at Reed College and earning a Ph.D. in cell biology from Rockefeller University, Barbara Ehrenreich joined a small nonprofit in New York City in the late 60's, advocating for better health care for the city's poor.She began researching and writing investigative stories for the company's monthly bulletin, and as she explains in her biography, "There was no decision to become a writer; that was just something I started doing."
What Ehrenreich calls her "big writing break," was a cover story for MS. MAGAZINE about feminism and heart disease, which lead to steady essay writing and opinion pieces in MS., MOTHER JONES, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, HARPER'S and other magazines.
In 2001, she released perhaps her most influential book, NICKEL AND DIMED: ON (NOT) GETTING BY IN AMERICA, which chronicles the year she spent working low-income jobs and living in low-income housing. She writes:
"We would stop at a convenient store for quote 'lunch' and people just didn't have money in their pockets. By money, I mean, two bucks. That's when I realized that people...were not eating because they couldn't afford to. And I asked this one girl...'How do you get through a whole day without eating?' And she said, 'Oh, I get faint by the end of it, I feel dizzy.' So, that's no good."Ms. Ehrenreich has since released many additional books including BAIT AND SWITCH: THE (FUTILE) PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, based upon her undercover work as a white-collar job seeker, and her latest book, DANCING IN THE STREETS: A HISTORY OF COLLECTIVE JOY, which focuses on our species' desire for collective joy.
